2. April 2008 by Dave Lafond.

We had a very good performance at the North American Championships in Bridgeport, CT on 3/29/2008.  We clearly made progress on many of the issues we worked on as a result of our trip to Bayonne.  The crowd enjoyed our performance and we walked away with a few more fans of Amoskeag Sound.

Next for us are a couple of rehearsals in preparation for Harrisburg.  We’ll be taking the feedback from the judges sheets and some other comments from the Hall of Fame members.  Expect to see and hear an even better and entertaining performance in PA.

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21. March 2008 by Dave Lafond.

Amoskeag Sound had a very interesting trip to Bayonne.  1st off we’d like to thank all the folks in the Bridgemen organization who put the Drumfest on and made us feel welcome.  We look forward to coming back again next year even better.

We had some adversity to overcome as Joel our kit player came down with the flu on Friday and couldn’t make the trip down.  Kenny our percussionist stepped up big time and helped keep everything together.  Despite missing our kit we had a pretty good performance despite other players not feeling 100% either.  The day was a great learning experience for our group and we got valuable feedback we can use on our way to
Harrisburg.

And we have a winner…

We’re all aware that Nelson is a gifted player, this past weekend Nelson really showed off his talents and was rewarded for his efforts.  Not only did Nelson do a fine job on his soprano solo, he did an impromptu solo on mellophone, playing one of his favorites “Over the Rainbow” and then honored a request for ‘Danny Boy’.

As a reward for his efforts Nelson won the Soprano category at the Drumfest.  In addition to winning the Soprano category, Nelson also walked away with a nice piece of hardware, the Gus Wilke memorial trophy.  This was given to the winner of the ‘Soprano Bowl’ something we had no idea we were part of, the award was given to the highest scoring soprano player at the contest where Nelson beat some very talented performers from the Bridgemen, Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights & the NY Skyliners.

See you in Bridgeport on March 30^th.

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13. March 2008 by Dave Lafond.

If they’re not at St. Andrews school in Bayonne, NJ to see the 2008 premire of Amoskeag Sound, they are going to be missing out on an entertaining and fun show.

 Amoskeag Sound has completed our last rehearsal before our 2008 debut.  We’re excited to be sharing some new material this Spring with more planned for the Summer.

 We’re still working out some bugs but we’re excited to perform our show in front of a crowd and get some valuable feedback so we can fine tune our program going into the MCA Invitational in Harrisburg, PA on April 12th.

 We’ll also be adding some more to our show for Bridgeport, CT, BHOF show on March 29th.

 Stop by and say Hi if you see us and we hope you enjoy the show.

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26. February 2008 by Dave Lafond.

Good rehearsal!  This new chart is tough and we got through it OK and no one got hurt.  I think we’ll be fine for Bayonne with a couple more rehearsals and hopefully we can really smoke it by the time we get to Harrisburg.  This is certainly more challenging than some of the other stuff we played last year.

Woodshed the music at home and that will allow us to work the ensemble stuff at rehearsal.  Also don’t forget the ‘other’ tunes too we want to make sure we keep the rust off those too.

 We can work on additional sectionals through e-mail if someone wants to coordinate. 

Work on memorizing as best as you can, we can always decide last minute to use music for the new tune but not the other way around.

Keep up the good work.

 Dave

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19. February 2008 by Dave Lafond.

Right now we’re working on a more agressive program for the 2008 season.  You can catch us in Bayonne, NJ at the Drumfest on March 15th, we’ll also be at the Bugler’s Hall of Fame, North American Championships in Bridgeport, CT on March 29th and lastly at the MCA Invitational in Harrisburg, PA on April 12th.

Look for us and I hope you enjoy what you see and hear, if you do let us know.

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19. February 2008 by admin.

Hi Gang,I do not know if the quality of the attached MP3 (brass-machine-sample.mp3) is any good it sounds scratchy on my system but it is playable Let me know gang if I should finish it.. Its close to being done.  BTW it is not as hard as it sounds I think we could get this down.
There is actually a lot of phrases that are the same, with a little work it is not that bad…. 
Keith its a work horse on the Contra part  But if you look at the arpeggios you can use a lot of alternate fingerings..
There is a 8 measure break in the 92 measures for rest for you
I think the Mellos  have a cool part..
Bari’s are not too exciting but its the only way I could get you guys a part and it has the chord structure to the song
As far as the Sops its pretty much  unison, however there are some nice harmony’s  gonna have to practice your flexibility so we can play it together, the range of the song is not that bad really, In fact I thought of bringing it up a few keys, But this key is pretty easy anyways.  Even at this the potential of a Double High “C” is there.
We get this down, I think we can stun the audience. Plus pull up a few places on the rankings I think this song can set us up real nice, and show that we worked to make a statement that we are not going away..
Please let me know at least what you think about it anyways. I will bring parts to rehearsal if you want to take it home and practice it
Joel,  I do not have the drum part in a readable form its a midi track, but I can make  a separate MP3 for you and Ken. Actually I can  email it for you . Once I get the missing emails
This is in the correct key as well, so you can play along…Nelson
I am excited a lot about this song. I really believe its the kind of song to put us up the ladder as a group.

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19. February 2008 by admin.

Welcome aboard!  Hopefully we will keep this updated and interesting. 

We are currently preparing for our first competition of this new 2008 seasson, and are looking forward to a few road trips.  We are adding some numbers to our reprotoire, and improving last years.

Check back later, and we will let you know how things go!

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